411 How I Met Your Mother Review: S04E09 'The Naked Man'

Posted by Michael Tyner on 11.25.2008

There is no way that works. . . 2 out of three times?



So this week I’ve decided to do a little experimenting with the voice of my reviews, in an effort to expand on the more recap-oriented articles I’ve put out there in the past. In this week’s episode, “The Naked Man,” How I Met Your Mother gives us another comedy-packed episode featuring an absurd story about Robin’s blind date. I’m told that ‘the naked man’ is a sort-of homage to something called ‘the ugly naked man’ from the show Friends, but I can’t corroborate that because I’ve thought Friends sucked.

Ted comes home, passing Robin on her cell downstairs, and, to his surprise, he walks in to find a naked, balding man sitting on his couch. Thinking he has walked in on Robin’s date he apologizes and walks out on the awkward situation, telling Mitch (Robin’s date) to take the cushion with him (“That’s trash now.”). But when he finds out Robin has no clue the guy is upstairs naked, he rushes back up for some questioning.

He finds out that Mitch is pulling a move he calls ‘the naked man’, wherein he finds a way for his date to let him into the apartment and he disrobes and waits for them to walk in; Ted thinks its creepy but Mitch insists that it gets him laid two out of three times. In fact, he guarantees that it will work two out of three times. This, of course, fascinates Barney when he finds out it worked on Robin, and insists that he and Ted try it on dates that night. Marshall insists that it will never work.

So far this set-up has been great, especially the opening bit where Ted is talking about all the weird things he has walked in to his apartment to find over the years; this includes the goat! The group gets their answer when Robin arrives at the bar, and they find out that ‘the naked man’ worked. Marshall calls slut, and Robin goes on the defensive insisting that she and Mitch have something special.

So the girl that Barney wants Ted to try ‘the naked man’ with is a girl named Vicky (does it make me lame that my first connection after hearing Bob Saget say the name Vicky was his girlfriend on Full House?). Ted met her on an elevator and after a week or so of playful half-flirting they are finally going on a date. Ted doesn’t want to try it, but after he realizes that he has no interest in a future with Vicky he decides to go for it.

He calls Barney after getting naked, and both are about to see if ‘the naked man’ works; on the phone they discuss poses to try, such as the ‘Captain Morgan’ or ‘The Thinker’. But then Ted sees a book of poems by his favorite poet on the table, and quickly redresses himself. But after a few more minutes he changes his mind again, and after Vicky leaves the room, he waiting for her in the buff on her return.

Possibly my favorite story arc in this episode is Lily’s list of reasons to do it, in response to Marshall saying that love is the only reason to have sex. Her first example, from last Thursday, is when you can’t get to sleep; second is make-up sex; third is ‘my friend taught me a new position’ sex, to which Barney says, “you’re welcome.” Among other reasons on the list there is hotel room sex, revenge sex, there’s nothing on TV sex, he said he loved you but you’re not ready to say it back, and at least 38 other reasons. “Wow, this is getting hard,” Lily says when she can’t think of any more, to which Barney responds, “Reason number forty-six!”

The whole list makes Marshall uneasy, but Lily won’t let it go because she is having fun making it. Eventually, Marshall walks into a room where Lily is standing naked; Marshall says she just wants to do it to change the subject. . . that can be reason forty-nine!

Robin tries to convince herself she isn’t a slut by asking Mitch out on a second date, but Mitch knows what she is doing. He even says, “I’ve seen this before. . . this is the ‘I’m not a slut’ date.” Later at the bar, Marshall takes back calling Robin a slut and she sends Mitch on his way. But while he is there, they all thank him for inspiring ‘the naked man’ but Barney is still nowhere to be found. They call his phone, which was left at a girls house and she is disgusted with Barney and threw him out of her house. So the move worked for Ted, and it worked for Lily, but not for Barney. . . two out of three times, guaranteed.

The 411: Season four, after one mediocre episode ("World's Greatest Burger") and a few stumbles along the way, has really been picking up steam over the past several weeks. I think that can all be chalked up to the great comedy writing staff, and a refocus on episodic television rather than continuing storylines. "The Naked Man" is possibly the best episode yet this season, and with the goat and (possibly) more slaps to look forward to I am excited about what is still to come.

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]